Jessica Shirvington

Despite the fact that this book was released six years ago and I’ve just now finally read it, Jessica Shirvington is one of my favorite authors of all time. The Violet Eden Chapters is my favorite series of books ever written, and if you combined the 5 books into one, they would rank in my top favorite books of all-time.

One Past Midnight - released as Between the Lives in Shirvington’s native Australia - is the author’s only one-off novel. Although the story does lend itself to a show more sequel or two, I am happy this didn’t happen. Anchoring Sabine’s story in this one novel is all we really need, and the using the beginning of her chosen life as a finale was deeply satisfying (though admittedly a little predictable).

My favorite thing about Shirvington - apart from her casual-yet-sharp writing style - is her almost effortless ability to craft deeply complicated, complex, emotional female characters. Even the background female characters - in this case, Sabine’s two mothers - hint at elaborate character pieces. Forgiving one emotional tangent that Sabine suffers for about 40 pages in this book - clearly misunderstanding something that Ethan has said to her and somehow believing it meant he doesn’t care about her - Sabine’s emotional intelligence and connectivity to herself and the people around her are awesome.

I would love to see One Past Midnight adapted into a film (and I was reminded of 2018′s Every Day, though I have yet to see it, and it sounds like the premise is different enough), placed in the hands of a capable female screenwriter and director who can properly support the care that Shirvington puts into her characters. show less

I don't even know where to start with this one. I'm surprised I even finished it. But it was kind of like watching a train wreck. I couldn't look away. The basic premise is pretty standard - nice girl, Violet, finds herself suddenly dropped into a supernatural shadow world with no information and no one is telling her the full truth. There's the nice guy, Lincoln, who has been there for her, but hasn't been completely honest. Then there's the bad boy, Phoenix, who is dark, mysterious, and show more somehow irresistible.

Well, in this case, Phoenix really is irresistible. He can influence people's emotions and force them to feel what he feels. He wants Violet. He stalks in every area of her life. Nowhere is private. He uses this to manipulate her. He also forces her to feel his emotions - lust - to make her respond to him. Yet she continues to trust him! Much is made of the traumatic effects of an attempted assault she experienced at the hands of a teacher. But Phoenix manipulates her into having sex by controlling her emotions, which really is rape, and she sadly tells him to leave and not come back. She wonders how she never questioned things, but doesn't react strongly at all.

What a horrid example of what relationships should not be. I'm not saying that a book can't have that content. I do object to presenting it in such a way that it appears normal and acceptable. No teenage girl should be reading that it is simply sad that some darkly handsome guy she was interested in pushed her into sex without her full consent.

This wasn't an especially good book to start with, a pretty formulaic supernatural love triangle story. But the portrayal of Phoenix as the misunderstood, dark hottie without really examining his outrageous actions sends a horrible message to teen readers. I'm afraid to even read other reviews of this book because I'm sure many will be swooning over Phoenix failing to see how evil he really is. show less

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**ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Welcome to another episode of Inside Aly's Jumbled Brain! Here is a warning for you: read this if you have trouble sleeping at night. Seriously. It'll bore you straight into Snooze Land.

Insomniacs, who?

Let me get to the point: It was boring. SO boring. Terribly, stupidly, braincell-destroying boring. I couldn't get into it and struggled to get to 80% after four days. show more Sometimes, I would even forget I was reading it. Other times, I would stare at my Kindle in silent desperation, willing it to throw up something more entertaining, something better, anything to keep me awake.

Alas, it was not to be. Unfortunately, I have a rule that I don't DNF ARCs because if the publisher put the effort into sending me a copy, then I should put the effort into reading it no matter how awful it turns out to be.

The good thing is that this isn't the worst book I've read this year. The concept had me intrigued.

But that's about it.

Poor little Sabine has two lives. At midnight every night, she is shot into what I assume is a parallel universe where she lives a life that is the polar opposite of the life she leads primarily.

Before midnight, she lives in Roxbury, Boston and after midnight she is flung in Wellesley where she lives the life of #richwhitegirl with #richwhitegirlproblems like graduation, a boyfriend and popularity.

OH NOES!

I assume it's a parallel universe because we are never given an explanation as to why this happens. A sense of mystery works well in some books and if this had been done better, it might have worked here too, but it didn't. In my opinion, if you're writing about something so complicated, the reader should be told how it happens, if not why. I admit, by the time I hit 80% I began to skim read, hoping against all hopes that somehow it was explained somewhere, but it never was, which bugs me.

Because of that, the story made no sense.

In Roxbury, her parents are the managers of a pharmaceutical store, she has a younger sister called Maddie and a best friend called Capri. For some unknown reason, in this life, Sabine acts out and is a rebel.

Then we're shown Wellesley, where Sabine is as good as gold, with a future at Harvard, two older brothers and divorced parents. Her boyfriend, Dex, is perfect and she is popular. Ooh la la.

That's about it. Until a second love interest is introduced in Roxbury, nothing happens. I'm not even talking insta-love here. I'm talking insta-get-in-my-knickers-NOW. It was forced, pathetic and really quite sad to see a relationship rushed within a week and for them to then have sex.

Oh, is that a spoiler? Come on, it was obvious!

I couldn't relate to Sabine at all. She was very self-centred, always complaining about her two lives (when some people would pay for that sort of thing) and she never paid attention, which is really sad considering what happens at the end. The side characters may as well have not existed whatsoever, because there was no point to them being there with Sabine all wrapped up with her own silly problems.

*sighs*

If you want to read a book that resembles very much the diary of an attention-seeking eighteen year old girl, then this is for you.

If, instead, you're expecting sci-fi, explanations/answers, some closure, then this is NOT for you.

For that, two stars.

#sorrynotsorry
#noregrets#
#yolo (HAHA JUST KIDDING) show less

2023 Reread review note: It's been nearly a decade and this series still has my whole heart.

2014 Review:

[SPOILERS BELOW]

My rating is a lie. This is not the best book in the series. I was just so emotional about it being over that I couldn't contain myself. My heart says it's a 4.5 but my brain says it's a 3.5.

I found quite a few things in this final chapter of the Violet Eden Chronicles to be predictable. I think anyone that has paid attention knew there was only one way for Violet to show more attain her "true" strength, and that's what made it so frustrating. I am, however, impressed at the reasoning behind it. That the only way for it all to work was for it to go the way it went. (This is very confusing when I'm trying to avoid spoilers.) Like Nox is to Uri, the pain that Violet goes through is necessary to bring about what she becomes.

I am not happy with how Phoenix's story ended. I believe he deserved more. I think it should have been obvious that [okay now I have to include SPOILERS] once he became human, he would realize that his "love" for Violet wasn't a human kind of love and been able to move on much easier. Violet "seeing hope" in his eyes is not enough for me to feel positively about his future.

I did love Grey. For being a new introduction in a last volume, he quickly became one of my favorites. Which made his loss all that much harder to bear. I also loved how Grey was a metaphor. It didn't occur to me at first - which it probably should have since his name is GREY - but he is clearly a representation of the struggle that Violet has gone through throughout the series. While his death was sad, it was also necessary because it represents the Violet's re-birth and new form/function/life.

I did not really like how Lincoln simply became a tool in this book. He lost everything that made him an individual character and was simply something for Violet to work against/with. I feel like it wasn't true to who he had been previously.

I feel Steph was extremely under-utilized in this story and became a terrible "planning a wedding" stereotype. Rarely was she given much dialogue other than "wedding stuff" and "Oh Violet get it over it and be with Lincoln". While we see how she has progressed in regards to her position within the Academy, we don't get to see much of the work she actually does, and I was disappointed with that.

Finally, although I know the story had to end the way it ended, it still wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want it to be a 100% happy ending. The draw in these books for me was the torture that ran through each character's psyche. People grow and move on from the terrible things that happen to them, but they are never completely gone, and I feel like the overly-happy ending was sweeping all the pain and struggle under the rug. I feel like the losses in the final battle weren't enough, and that both Violet and Lincoln should have lost someone that was very important to them both (Spencer? Griffin?) so that it was clear that no matter how much things had changed, they will always live a hard, sad life. Because that's the truth of it, as far as I can see.

I love Violet Eden. This is a character that will be in my bookish heart for the rest of my life. It would have been impossible for me to not have issues with this final book, no matter what happened, because it's very difficult for me to see her story end. However, I am grateful and thankful to Jessica Shirvington for bringing these characters into my life. And for that my heart wins and the book gets a 4.5. show less